Cards

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Clean, Effective, Efficient: $5 at the Card Show

Last Saturday, the LCS held its (quarterly?) card show. I'm really not sure how often it's held, or if there is any pattern to it, but I missed the last one and decided to check this one out. More often than not, I have a table there, but I didn't have the entire Saturday free for selling. Seriously, I had so little time that I spent literally less than 15 minutes there. It was just long enough to say, "Hi," to a couple of friends and pick up a couple of grab bags on the cheap.

I read all the other blogs and everyone talks about dime boxes and quarter boxes. Well, I guess that's just not how it's done in these parts. In fact, I'm the only seller I've ever seen at a card show with a dime and/or quarter box. Around here, grab bags are the thing. So I'm walking around looking for something cheap to buy, and not having the time to peruse all the fancy individual cards in their individual top loaders, and I see a team bag with a Panini Clear Vision Joe Montana on the front. It's packed tight, and has a sticker of $2 on it. All I can see that might be in there is a bunch of Clear Vision, which I
have never bought before, and some 2015 Topps Valor, which I have also
never purchased, but I really like the 2014 version. Just as I pick up a second grab bag, the seller sees me and says, "I'll give you both of those for $2." I ask if he means each or total, and he says, "For both together." Well, I'm sold! I hand the man two dollars and turn to the table behind me. Before I get to the next table, let's see what those team bags contained.

Some commons in 2015 Topps Valor. Once again I like the design. Most of the photos use pretty good action shots, even if they are highly shopped. The design in the scan looks like a forest or something in the background, but the physical cards don't look much a picture in the background. I'm not a big fan of the little team logo in the corner. It just doesn't seem to fit anything else on the card.

I apologize for the scans. For some reason my scanner was cutting edges off some these. This group of players is better than the last, and it includes a new Jordy for my PC.

Some more Valor, with some young stars and a Super Bowl MVP in the middle.

Here are some Honor parallels. Not bad to include some some good parallels in a cheap grab bag.

We'll finish off the Valor with some legendary running backs and a rookie.

Now on to the Clear Vision. These cards are acetate and completely transparent. They're kind of cool, and I was surprised to find that these book at $2 per common and I had about 50 of them for a about 2 cents a card. Not a bad purchase. Let's see who came in the grab bags.

Montana and Manning here. Both of these book at $6, and the cheapest I could pick them up on COMC would be over $1 apiece. Since they both fit PCs, I'm happy with the purchase with just this. But the fun doesn't stop there.

Why don't we add Brady, Marino, and the Original LT to the mix? And another Packer PC, Eddie Lacy.

Here are a couple of subsets in the main set: Sophomore Standouts and Rookie ReVision. Again, the Peyton is the highlight here, and I actually ended up with one in each bag. My cart on COMC would be close to $4 for those cards alone.

We'll end this purchase with some more base and a few rookies. But here's the kicker: as I inventoried these cards, I learned that the DeVante Parker is an SP Variation. So here I am with a wallet only $2 lighter and some great value in cards.

The next table has team grab bags that catch my eye. Each team bag has 30 cards and is marked for $5. I pick through and find two Packers bags, but one of them has cards I already own on the front and back, so I put it back. I take the grab bag and hand the guy a fiver, and he gives me change! I point out that the sticker said $5, but he says, "Oh that's pricing from an old card show. I'm selling them for $3." All right, I'll take it. For 10 cents a card, let's see what I got.

Some Eddie Lacy, Ty Montgomery, and Clay Matthews. I like the Select and Gridiron Kings. I didn't buy any Gridiron Kings this year, but I think I might this next year, especially because Topps has lost its license. I'm not sure if the card is cardboard or acetate or plastic, or what, but it has an interesting feel to it.

Some new Jordy Nelsons for my PC.

And some current Packers in college uniforms.

My only beef with this grab bag is that it contained some dupes within the grab bag, but how can I complain with the haul and the pricing?

So for $5 dollars total, I came away with nearly 100 cards, most of which have some good value. No junk wax as filler. And it took me about 10 minutes' time. Clean, effective, efficient. I wish I would have had more time to wander and look, but it was a successful show nonetheless. Even if nobody around here believes in dime boxes.

2 comments:

I hadn't seen any of those Topps Valor cards before, the colors on them are quite fetching. They really do have a nice overall look to them. That turned out to be a pretty good haul for such a short period of time.